Aug. 10, 2019
05:23 pm JST

I’m quite sure Google earth would have sufficed.

And why couldn't a marketing firm have used Google earth too?

But it seems absurd that Japan has secrets that it will sell cheaply for marketing purposes, yet doesn't want to fall into Chinese hands. If this information was so secret, then it shouldn't have sold it to the public.

Aug. 10, 2019
09:43 pm JST

It's not clear what law has been broken here.

The article says that the data was sold under a contract that prohibits its sale to a third party. So if he accepted money for transferring the data to the Chinese, he's guilty of breach of contract (at the very least).